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BENEDICT ARNOLD. 



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.T- B. LTPPTNCOTT COMPANY. 

1888. 




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COPYRIGHT DEPOSfT. 






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Copyright, 1888, by J. B. Lippincott Company. 




BENEDICT ARNOLD. 




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PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 

1888. 



BENEDICT ARNOLD. 



Arnold, Benedict, a talented American military 
officer, whose early brilliant exploits are obscured by 
his attempt to betray his native country, was born 
in Norwich, Connecticut, January 14, 1741. By nature 
reckless and fond of adventure, he ran away from home 
when fifteen years of age, and joined the provincial 
troops then engaged in the old French war, but soon 
deserted. At twenty-one he became a merchant in New 
Haven. On the breaking out of the Revolutionary 
war, he joined the colonial forces ; accompanied an ex- 
pedition of ' Green Mountain Boys' (Vermonters), 
which, under Ethan Allen, captured Fort Ticonderoga; 
and in 1775, led an isolated detachment of an invading 
army through the wilds of Maine to Quebec, in the un- 
successful siege of which city he bore an important 
part. Here he was severely wounded, and for gallant 
conduct was made a brigadier-general by the colonial 
congress. Retreating from Canada by way of Lake 
Champlain, he superintended the construction on its 
waters of a flotilla, which he handled with much skill 
at the battle of Valcour Island. 

Arnold was of an imperious and violent temper, and 
was frequently in difficulties with his fellow-officers ; 
and, though greatly admired by General Washington 
and others high in rank, he appears to have had bitter 
and influential enemies. In 1777 five of his inferiors 



4 BENEDICT ARNOLD. 

in rank were promoted by congress over his head to be 
major-generals — a circumstance which may be presumed 
to have sown the seeds of his subsequent disaffection 
towards the colonial cause. Though greatly chagrined, 
he was induced by Washington to retain his connection 
with the array ; and, when on leave of absence he heard 
of the invasion of Connecticut by Governor Tryon, he 
hastened to join the colonial forces, and was present at 
the battle of Ridgefield, where his horse was killed 
under him. For gallantry in this action he was made a 
major-general. 

In the same year Arnold was sent by Washington to 
aid in the military operations in eastern New York, and 
fought with his customary impetuosity in the battles of 
Saratoga (having his horse killed, and being himself 
severely wounded), and is credited with having contrib- 
uted largely by his skill and bravery to the capture of 
the invading army under General Burgoyne. Disabled 
temporarily by his wound, he spent much of the winter 
of 1777-78 in the hospital at Albany, and on the retire- 
ment of the royal forces from Philadelphia in the fol- 
lowing spring, he was })laced in command of that city. 
Here he met and married the accomplished daughter of 
Mr Edward Shippen, at whose house the unfortunate 
Major Andr6 (q.v.) had been a welcome guest during 
Howe's occupation of the city; and through this mar- 
riage appears to have begun that fatal acquaintance 
which resulted in the death of Andre as a spy, and the 
disirraceful downfall of Arnold as a traitor. 

In 1780 Arnold sought and obtained the command 
of West Point, on the Hudson River (one of the most 
important posts in the colonies), which, through a con- 



BENEDICT ARNOLD. 5 

spiracy with Andre, he agreed to betray iuto the hands 
of the British commander. On the capture of Andr6, 
and the discovery of the plot, Arnold precipitately fled 
to the British lines, and was given a command in the 
royal army. In 1781 he led an expedition against his 
native state, during which New London was burned, 
Fort Grisvvold, on the opposite side of the river, taken, 
and the garrison massacred. After the close of the war, 
Arnold resided in London in comparative obscurity, 
where he died June 14, 1801. See the Life by Jared 
Sparks; and that extenuating his treason, by Isaac N. 
Arnold (1880). 



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